Bambi

Many decades ago God surprised us with this shot of Bambi and his mother. We had just entered Waterton Peace Park (Canada's northern neighbor to our Glacier National Park). This is the first photo I remember taking of a fawn in the wilds.

Roadside photo in Canada

We had literally thrown our camping tent, gear, and son in our blue VW Fastback in the middle of the night. Drunken, noisy camping neighbors (chopping wood and cussing loudly) caused us to make this nocturnal move from our large commercial campground in Lethridge, Alberta.

Shortly after sunrise, God blessed us with this mother/son deer sighting. His Creation never fails to amaze! That's the main reason we keep road tripping back to the northwest.

Lambs

The song states that little lambs eat ivy.
There doesn't seem to be much of that
at these elevations in Yellowstone...10,243 ft.

Nine lambs in a row at the top of Mount Washburn in Yellowstone NP. We made this three-mile hike several times several decades ago. The bighorn sheep lams, mommas, and rams There was a rather easy jeep trail that made for a reasonably pleasant hike to where the rangers watched for traces of smoke from the surrounding mountains and forests. One of our favorite hikes in the park. God constantly surprises us, if we just LOOK!

Recovery

Mother and child

Another incredible view of Creation on a road trip decades ago. I will never grow tired of seeing God at His AMAZINGEST. Yellowstone NP in Wyoming is truly the  best place to view the big animals.

Mother Moose hadn't quite gotten her post-birth legs underneath her yet. Recovery sometimes takes awhile even in the wilderness.  We made up a lot of Mr. Moose stories for our kids over the years. It is certainly one of our favorite animals to see in the wild.

Mealtime

I believe it was the 70s outside our cabin in Jasper NP, Canada. I didn't know black bears read the newspaper with their meals. I did learn they like Thousand Island Dressing on their salad. God shows us amazing parts of His Creation on our road trips if we just slow down, take a breath, and LOOK!

Triplets

Pronghorn family in Bryce Canyon NP

First sighting of these special youngsters...three for the price of one. Priceless! A ranger once instructed me that in America they are not antelopes; they are correctly named pronghorns. I suppose daddy was off grazing with the guys.

Wolf Couple

In keeping with a wonderful blog I follow, and since a picture is worth at least a thousand words...

Road trip photo: wolf couple in Yellowstone NP

Humps

Both growing up and in my adult years, my favorite arcade game was always Skee Ball. I used a bank shot. Its all about using the same motion and duplicating the speed and positioning of my arm and the ball. My bowling expertise came in handy. I could get high scores and thus collect lots of reward tickets. I would turn these in for some dandy prizes.

My best ever Skee Ball prize was a giant stuffed camel. He stood about four feet tall at the hump; he was a valuable position for years. We named him Humps. I won Humps by playing lots of Skee Ball on a Joy Bus outing to Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. We lived in Shreveport and I was a bus driver for several years in the Joy Bus ministry of the church. I drove one of our buses on the three-hour trip to the amusement park that Saturday. After enjoying the park all day, we headed back to Shreveport after dark. We had barely driven a mile on the  Interstate when my bus pulled up lame on the shoulder. We were going nowhere that evening.

A quick phone call to our bus mechanic back home gave us a game plane. He would contact a wrecker service that would tow the bus to a nearby church parking lot to await his checking it out the next day. We jammed the 90+ kids and chaperones into the other 54 passenger bus, and they all headed back to Shreveport. The preacher and I were the ones who stayed behind with the broken down bus until the wrecker came. We then caught a cab to the DFW Airport to await our early Sunday morning flight home. There literally was no room for a large stuffed camel on that other bus, so I kept Humps with me for the flight to his new abode.

I remember our playing cards for several hours in an airport waiting area. During the wee hours of the morning we decided we were hungry. We were going to take the airport shuttle to an all-night restaurant at one of the hotels onsite. I didn't want to take Humps on that journey, so we ask at the Delta ticket counter if they could keep him for us while we ate. They graciously agreed and Humps disappeared into a back room.

An hour or so later we returned to reclaim the camel. The ticket workers had changed shifts. It took some doing to  describe Humps to the new staff. Fortunately one of them remembered seeing him relaxing in a back room. With Humps safely in tow, we boarded our flight. I think the flight attendant stuffed him in a space reserved for large garment bags. All arrived home safely.

Humps at home in Shreveport

My kids enjoyed the new, if rather lifeless, addition to the family. After his newness wore off, he was stored in the attic. Humps was left too close to a hot electric wire. Sometime later he singed his hair. I don't recall a smoke alarm going off, but somehow we were alerted to the burning smell. Perhaps Humps brayed a warning as he began burning. All was safe, but we did have to discard Humps with the trash. He was the best pet camel our family ever had. 💔

Gotcha: Tumult, Trampling, Terror!

Isaiah 22:5 describes a time of chaos, attacks, oblivion, and a day noisy with mobs of people. "The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision." This isn't quite the level of pandemonium that we are experiencing in our current pandemic with its shut downs, quarantine, and social distancing. We are nevertheless living through the strangest of times and creating a new normal.

We prayerfully trust to awaken on the other side in just a few weeks. Our talks with God are filled with supplication for blessings of health and prosperity on family and friends from whom we are separated temporarily. Worship and other meetings have all gone online. Recreation has changed drastically. One friend described a date walk outside with his wife. There's not even any curling to watch on  ESPN.😖

UNO ATTACK Challenge!/YouTube

Board games seem to have exhibited a rebirth. I recently played Attack UNO. That involves periodically pressing a button on top of the UNO Monster's head. If you're lucky, it just moans. Otherwise it literally regurgitates several cards into your lap. After awhile you learn to quickly turn the attacker toward one of your opponents before tapping the spitting spot. UNO has become a physical game of Gotcha!

We just passed through a time of remembering Jesus' resurrection. Remember Easter? Find your way to Celebrate, Jesus, Celebrate! Matthew 28 describes the female followers of Jesus who wandered to the tomb wondering. They endured an earthquake and discovered an empty tomb. They even had what must've been a terrifying encounter with an angel who appeared like lightning with snowy white clothes. They were instructed to go and tell the disciples that HE IS RISEN!

The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy. It's natural to feel anxiety and even fear in times like these. Let us not succumb to Satan's game of Gotcha. Replace his dark feelings of tumult, trampling, and terror with the Good News that Jesus is risen!

Christmas Ornament

I acknowledge it's a curious time to be blogging about a Christmas ornament. Quarantined in April in the middle of a pandemic, a blogger searches for bright spots in this world.

photo by Gorge Berberich/unsplash.com

This morning I found one while listening to our daily Bible reading with my wife. I gazed out of my front living room window as is my custom. Behold a bright red male cardinal flew into the large tree in the neighbor's yard across the street. It perched on a branch amid the new spring foliage. To my eye it stood out like an intricately fashioned Christmas ornament.

God had created that crimson spot within a sea of light green leaves for my enjoyment. It was only there for a few moments before taking wing for its next resting place. No doubt its itinerary that day included adding beauty to numerous neighborhood window paintings.

God's Creation frequently comes alive with flashes of brilliant color. I imagined my Lord looking out his picture window as Genesis 1:31 (MSG) describes, "God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!" I can even imagine the Tree of Life in Heaven decorated for Christmas morning or perhaps for Jesus' return after his crucifixion and triumphant resurrection on Easter Sunday. Hallelujah!

Three?

Have you ever had trouble counting to three? I must admit that lately its been an issue. Since this quarantine began over a month ago shutting down Planet Fitness and our daily 2020 workouts, I've been exercising at home five or six days a week. The routine I've established takes about 25 minutes.

I have a pair of eight-pound hand weights. I have developed a regimen of 12 exercises. seven of these involve the weights with one set of 50 reps each. I've added 50 each of four calisthenics including crunches, wall push ups, wall sittings, and neck stretches. The workout concludes by my returning to the weights for six sets of 10 reps each. The exercises take about 12 minutes.

Through my house there is a 20-second lap that goes from the master bedroom, through the master bath, around the kitchen, dining room, and living room. I begin and end my body maintenance schedule by walking three laps. Furthermore I walk three laps between each of the dozen exercises. The 39 laps take about 13 minutes. The total workout is about 25 minutes. When weather permits my wife and I supplement this with a neighborhood walk.

I concentrate fairly well on keeping count of the 50 reps during the exercise portion. My problem is when I'm keeping track of the three 20-second laps walking through the house. If I don't display the first lap with my index finger, the second lap with two fingers (peace sign or victory), and the third lap with three fingers, I tend to forget what lap I'm on. So I'm careful to count them on my fingers. I display the new number each time I exit the bedroom and head through the bathroom.

image from PsalmQuotes.com

I'm afraid this quarantine is taking a toll on this 71-year-old man. I can count to 50, but I struggle remembering the sequence to three. Don't care so much that I have those opposable thumbs, but I'm very glad I have three fingers on each hand. I plan to continue to use what God has given me. As Psalm 139:14 states...I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Praise God for my ability to count to three.

Awesome Wonder! What joy!

Awesome Wonder!
photo by Tomas Sobek/unsplash.com

Sometimes the lyrics of an old familiar hymn take me by surprise. That happened this morning with How Great Thou Art. I can't explain it. I've probably sung it hundreds of times. There's no rhyme or reason to that song's touching me on this particular dawning except that it seems to coincide with my fantasy serial blog's posting this morning. Imagine! is describing Day Six of Creation as the angelic host witnesses the Father and Son interacting to create the animals and man. The recording of those events begins in Genesis 1:24.

Ponder these words or sing along:

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration and their proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, "How great Thou art! How great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, "How great Thou art! How great Thou art!"

Unto the Hills

The pandemic of 2020 has kept us all close to home. My wife and I love to travel. Road trips together are amazing. We particularly admire the Rocky Mountains of the American West and Canada. The green hills of Tennessee are a special destination of ours as well. They all remind us of a favorite hymn Unto the Hills with lyrics from Psalm 121. It was set to music in 1860 by John D. S. Campbell. The first stanza of this old hymn offer a great promise:

Unto the hills around do I lift up my longing eyes;

O whence for me shall my salvation come, from whence arise?

From God the Lord doth come my certain aid,

From God the Lord who heav'n and earth hath made.

Whether rolling hills, mountains with snow-capped peaks, or that knob that bore the cross of Christ just outside Jerusalem, we enjoy viewing and imagining those landscapes. Ponder what it must've been like to stand on Skull Hill as our Savior was dying on that tree. William Gaither captured the image well in 1968 with Stanza 2 of A Hill Called Mount Calvary:

I believe that the Christ who was slain on the cross, Has the power to change lives today;

For He changed me completely, a new life is mine; That is why by the cross I will stay.

I believe in a hill called Mount Calv'ry; I'll believe whatever the cost;

And when time has surrendered and earth is no more, I'll still cling to that old rugged cross.

Dalton Highway to Brooks Range
in Northern Alaska

I trust I will never grow tired of the beauty of God's Creation remembering the day we drove to the top of Pike's Peak. Neither will I ever forget the day the clouds parted and gave me a majestic view of Denali. No matter how many times I wind on Interstate 40 up the Cumberland Plateau heading to the Smoky Mountains, the views always inspire. I cherish with pure joy every time I lift up my longing eyes UNTO the HILLS.

Sheer Silliness. Hallelujah!

There are seven absurd statements within the Good News of the Cross of Jesus. The scripture basis is 1 Corinthians 1:18 (MSG)...The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. Another version (NIV) calls it the foolishness of the Cross. Allow me to list these seven absurdities as I see them.

1. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to the high priest when asked what they thought about Jesus: He is worthy of death (Matthew 26:66). There was no one on the planet more perfectly sinless and less worth of death than Jesus.
2. Chief priests and elders to Judas when he tried to return the blood money stating he had sinned and betrayed innocent blood: What is that to us?...That's your responsibility (Matthew 27:4). They had paid the traitor, therefore they were to blame.
3. Pilate, after washing his hands, to the Jewish leaders and the surrounding mob: I am innocent of this man's blood (Matthew 27:24). He was the one man who could've released Jesus (probably incurring the wrath of Caesar in Rome).
4. The Centurion and other guards at the foot of the cross: Surely He was the Son of God (Matthew 27:54)! Jesus not only was but also is the God's only Son.
5. Pilate to the centurion and other guards destined to be executed if the grave were to be found empty. Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how (Matthew 27:65). God allowed the crucifixion to happen, but no man or army could have prevented the resurrection.
6. The chief priests to the soldiers reporting finding the tomb empty: You are to say, his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep (Matthew 28:13). Soldiers who fell asleep on the job were subject to death.
7. The chief priests to the soldiers they had just paid to lie about the apostles' stealing the body of Jesus: If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble (Matthew 28:14). Absurd! The disciples had absolutely nothing to gain by possession of Jesus' dead body. What they needed they would have shortly..a Live Savior!

After the crucifixion, resurrection, appearances, and ascension, the words of Acts 1:11 (MSG) ring out loudly. The disciples were standing looking intently up into the sky. Two men dressed all in white stood beside them and said: You Galileans! Why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly -- and mysteriously -- as he left.

photo by Tincho Franco/unsplash.com

The cross, the tomb, the upper room, the earth, and even the sky were now empty. Filled again was  the place at the right hand of the Father and the proclamation of truth: Christ returneth! Hallelujah!

Exactly as God Commanded

In the years following the escape from Egyptian enslavement, the Israelites often didn't perform even close to how God said. They surely didn't have a track record of doing things exactly God's way. The scriptures preceding Exodus 39:43 are a notable exception. They list the myriad of details for the creation of the Tabernacle, its contents, the priestly garments, etc. At the completion of that long list, The Message states: "They had done all the work and done it exactly as God had commanded."

I'm not sure that I've ever done even any short list of to do's precisely as anyone had ever wanted...not myself, my parents, my wife, my bosses, and certainly not my God. No matter how hard I try, I never  seem to do anything perfectly, at least not the first time.

I'm blessed with a loving and forgiving wife. Especially in these latter days (or daze) of our 49-year marriage, she has agreed to grant me/us second chances. We call them do-overs. They are rather like mulligans I used to get or take in my golfing days (again perhaps daze is a better rendering based on my play of that frustrating game).

photo by tsg pixels on unsplash.com

When a do-over is granted in our marriage, we both agree graciously to start again. We immediately erase whatever was said or done in the previous minutes that led to the messiness of the moment. Thank you, Lord, for patience; and thank you for second chances. I would like to buy stock in Do-Overs, Inc. That would be better than sliced bread...and more useful, too.

Enough

Exodus 36 describes a time when the people were building the Sanctuary for worshiping their God. They were all bringing a bountiful offering for this construction project. Verses 4-7 (MSG) states:

All the artisans who were at work making everything involved in constructing

the Sanctuary came, one after another, to Moses, saying,

"The people are bringing more than enough

for doing this work that God commanded us to do!"

So Moses sent out orders through the camp:

"Men! Women! No more offerings for the building of the Sanctuary!"

The people were ordered to stop bringing offerings!

There was plenty of material for all the work to be done.

Enough and more than enough.

These were the same people who had a habit of complaining to God about their circumstances. They had conveniently short memories forgetting the miserable existence in Egypt from which God had delivered them not many moons hence. Yet this is one time when they pitched in with a passion that was so great that Moses put a halt to their generosity. Enough!

Some generations later God was to make one of the greatest of his precious promises to descendants of these same people. It seems they were robbing God by not bringing the whole tithe as commanded. Malachi 3:10 (NIV) states:

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,

that there may be food in my house.

Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty,

"and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven

and pour out so much blessing

that there will not be room enough to store it."

photo by Davide Cantelli/unsplash.com

I really am inspired by the way The Message renders that last part: Test me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. Can you dream big about God's blessings. Imagine those blessings being BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS! Wow!

Thirty Years

Does the name Arphaxad mean anything to you? It didn't to me until I found it listed in the Genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:23-38 (MSG). Apparently Arphaxad was the son of Shem and nine generations before Abraham in the list that goes from Son of Joseph all the way back to Son of God. That genealogy begins with the statement that when Jesus entered public life he was about thirty years old, the son (in public perception) of Joseph...

We know very little about Jesus' pre-ministry existence. We do know of a trip at age eight to Jerusalem during which he annoyed his parents and baffled the Jewish teachers. From then until age 30...nothing! We don't know how much of that time he spent in the carpentry trade with his dad or up on a mountainside alone with his Father. During his teenage years, did he hang out with his siblings or any BFFs in Nazareth? Did he have any hobbies or interests that helped him pass the time in the last 22 years until his public life began? Nothing is even hinted. All we can do is imagine or conjecture.

By 1978 and age 30 I had graduated college, been married for seven years, and had one child with our second due the next year. I had taught high school English for six years, gotten a Masters degree, and officiated sports for the first decade of 25-years in that avocation. My wife and I had already traveled to most of the 50 states (completing all 50 by 2013).

Much has happened since my 30th birthday including learning to play racquetball, publishing two books, Let the Redeemed Sing So and Dare To Teach Teens, four different positions in school administration, 16 years as a college professor, two more children, 11 grandchildren, and retirement nearly three years ago. My retirement hobbies have continued to include travel, scenic and wildlife photography, and a new heightened interest in blogging.

photo by Jonathan Saleh/unsplash.com

All of the accomplishments of those 41 years since I was 30 are insignificant when stacked against the three years of the life of Jesus from age 30-33. His life of teaching, healing, and loving people spanned a very brief time, yet is was the most important three years in the history of mankind. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son! That was the single greatest event in the annals of Creation from "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" until today. I know one thing for certain: I need to spend more time alone on the mountainside with OUR FATHER! How about you?

Love Divine

The concept that GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4:8) is an important one for all Christians. The entire chapter of 1 John 4 seems to be a treatise on the love of the Father. A few months ago, in the Pre-Pandemic Era of our existence, the Sunday morning song leader at our church led us in singing an older hymn that we hadn't song in recent memory.

The hymn lyrics to Love Divine were originally penned by Charles Wesley in 1747. A few modernizing adjustments have been made in today's church hymnals, but the message remains one of adoration for God's love. As I sat singing the beautiful 4-part harmony of that composition, the second verse touched me deeply:

Love Divine (verse 2)

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit, into every troubled breast;

Let us all in Thee inherit; let us find the promised rest.

Take away the love of sinning. Take our load of guilt away.

End the work of Thy beginning, bring us to eternal day.

God's divine love doesn't just remove, cover, and forgive our sins; additionally it takes away the very love of sinning and removes our load of guilt. The love of sinning is what causes many to become addicts of the various "drugs of choice" available in our world. The load of guilt is what keeps addicts hooked in their addiction unable or unwilling to return to and rediscover that promised rest leading to an eternal day.

Photo by Ben White on Upsplash.com

Take some time today and everyday during this quarantine to approach God's throne of divine love with prayers for those battling to recover from addictions. In Romans 7:24-25 (MSG) the Apostle Paul described the war we all wage with sin and temptation...I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

I'm Still Here

One of the precious promises of Jesus is stated clearly in Matthew 28:20 (MSG)...I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age. Have you ever felt totally isolated and truly alone? I remember vividly a few times in my life.

As a child I recall being all alone one night. I'm not sure what scared me, but I sat in our big green vinyl chair in the corner of the living room with a hatchet in my hand waiting for my parents' return. I don't know where my older brother was that evening. It was unusual for me to be left home alone. I know everything turned out okay, because I'm still here. I also assure you that had my house been besieged that night by ugly bad guys, I would not have been nearly as creative as Macaulay Culkin in defending my domicile.

Dalton Highway
AlaskaPhotoGraphics

There was a time on my solo road trip from Tennessee to the Arctic Ocean in 2011, that I was terrified for a few moments. I was returning from an overnight visit and morning tour of the oil pipeline at Prudhoe Bay in Deadhorse, AK. Driving the Dalton Highway by myself was the most challenging part of that 12,000+ mile road trip. The Haul Road of Ice Road Truckers' fame wasn't icy as on that History Channel television show. It was filled with potholes, frost heaves, and lots of mud. In spots it was also mostly gravel. That was the case on the south bound ridge back through the Brooks Mountain Range. I literally talked to myself, my Nissan Sentra, and my God as I gently applied the brake numerous times to keep from becoming panicked and sliding out of control. There was nowhere to go but down, way down. I'm certain I didn't plunge off road that day, because I'm still here.

Finally, in December of 2018, I spent my birthday week in the hospital with a gangrenous gall bladder. On one day I was alone for awhile. My wife had stepped out for a few minutes. I was hooked to an I-V, had been instructed many times by her and various medical personnel NOT TO GET UP BY MYSELF! There was a conveniently positioned call button. I was either just too stubborn or doped up on that one occasion. You guessed it, I fell to the tile floor luckily without ripping the tube from my arm. I fell down and I couldn't get up. I lay there and called for help. I know I survived the glaring looks and harsh lectures that followed from more than one source, because I'm still here.

Relying on God in stressful or even terrifying situations is what faith is all about. We are told in Joshua 1:9 (NLT)..."This is my command--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Furthermore Isaiah 41:10 (MSG) proclaims..."Don't panic. I'm with you. There's no need to fear for I'm your God. I'll give you strength. I'll help you. I'll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you."

Those verses pretty much sum up my childhood home alone terror, my slip sliding away gravel road horror, and my hospital fall trepidation. Allow me to return to the opening verse in Matthew 28 as it fits our current times so well. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right  up to the end of the PANDEMIC! Take a breath and look around...WE'RE STILL HERE!

GodFather

A few months ago, before church became a distance online thing to do, a friend of mine led a very moving prayer in our Sunday morning assembly. Mike's habit is to use the terms Father, God, and even Father God numerous times when leading us in talking to the Lord. All of a sudden that prayer caught an extra level of focus from me. He rearranged the order as I'd never heard him do before. It wasn't wrong; it was just different...unique, especially for him.

He used the term God Father. It almost sounded like Godfather. He had my attention. I'm not sure why; he just did. The Godfather trilogy of motion pictures is among the most critically acclaimed in all of filmdom. It just so happens that I am a movie buff; a movie buff who has never seen any of the Godfather flicks. They just never appealed to me. I'm more of a Hallmark, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, and Fifties Sci-Fi Classics kind of guy. I even like the old musicals just not the Godfather.

NOT my God Father!

I was caught by surprise that all of a sudden we seemed to be praying to God-Father. Unlike the gangster mafia family head, our God Father is caring, loving, merciful, compassionate, and understanding. Additionally HE is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. I'm pretty sure He looks nothing like Marlon Brando. Thanks Mike, I relish the opportunities to speak personally with our God Father!

Tales of Two Healings

The last half of Luke Chapter 8 (MSG) relates the story about Jesus healing two special people. Following their cures, our Lord challenged each of them in completely different ways.

Photo by Anastasiia Kamil/unsplash.com

The first tale of healing was of a man possessed by demons (verses 26-39), a whole lot of demons. In fact there were so many demons controlling the man that when Jesus asked his name, he replied, "Mob!" Wanting to escape the bottomless pit of Hell, the devilish beings begged for the Master to order them into a nearby herd of pigs. Jesus agreed to their request. Immediately swine mob, maddened into a frenzy, dashed to their deaths over a cliff into a lake. The man asked to accompany Jesus but was told to return home and tell everyone about his experience. The man did as commanded and preached all over town.

The second tale was of the daughter of a village leader (verses 49-56). Word came of the death of the  girl. Jesus went to her home anyway. He told them she was only sleeping. They laughed. They KNEW she was dead. Jesus simply touched the young girl's hand and said, "My dear child, get up." She was up in an instant, up and breathing again! He told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were ecstatic, but Jesus warned them to keep quiet. "Don't tell a soul what happened in this room."

To tell or not to tell, that is my question. I won't hazard a guess as to why the totally opposite instructions after each of these miracles. I'm reasonably sure it had nothing to do with age, gender, or even the nature of the illnesses. I do trust that it was all about God's plan and the desired outcome in each of these Tales of Two Healings.

The Beginning of the End

In John 16:20 Jesus told his followers about an imminent change to which they could look forward with rejoicing..."You're going to be in deep mourning while the godless world throws a party. You'll be sad, very sad, but your sadness will develop into gladness." This verse reminds me of today's circumstances.

In the middle (we hope) of this pandemic, some are ignoring the mandates and guidelines and are continuing to party as though life had not changed. They are reasoning that certainly Mother Nature has not thrown us a vicious curveball. Others are in mourning. Most of us are in some degree of sadness. God promises that this will end and our sadness will turn to gladness. We are distancing, quarantining, washing, masking-up when we must go out, and praying. The numbers should tell us when the curve is leveling. We are hopeful that both the health and economic recoveries are just around that distant corner. We trust the beginning of the end arrives sometime this month.

from Wikipedia

As frequently occurs in these blogs, a memory popped into my head. Back in the Fifties Peter Graves starred in one of those Sci-Fi Classics that I rewatch from time to time.The movie's title was The Beginning of the End. Graves' role was that of a scientist whose experiments had gone horribly awry creating a hoard of giant, mutant, carnivorous locusts. The bugs proceeded to lay siege to Chicago. The world was next on their Invade and Eat List. Only through the ingenuity of science was the star of the original Mission Impossible series and Airplane! farces able to match soundwaves to the locusts incessant squealings and drown them in Lake Michigan. The global locust pandemic was quickly averted.

I believe the power of prayer and perhaps the God-given intelligence of some of mankind will lead to the timely demise of the Coronavirus. Even if we can't turn our own sadness to gladness, we must have faith that God can and will.  This is NOT the beginning of the end. Together we must continue to fervently pray and wash.

Corel WordPerfect

When speaking of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of all mankind, Hebrews 10:14 (MSG) states..."It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people." Hearing that verse in the audiobook devotion to which my wife and I listened this morning made me think of another scripture. John 1:1, 14 (NIV)..."In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." Not only are those two passages very powerful and promising, but together they bring back memories of a special time in my life.

Amid the struggles of the current pandemic, it seems appropriate to think back to another horrific time in America. The year was 2011! The tragic occurrences of 9-11 temporarily interrupted the start of the best years of my educational career. Just a couple of months before that infamous day and with my wife's encouragement and support, I was hired as an assistant professor of education at Martin Methodist College (MMC) in Pulaski, TN.

After teaching high school English for 10 years and serving as a school administrator for 14 more, I was ready for a change. I found a near-perfect fit in the next 16 years at MMC. Today I look back after the first three years of my retirement and remember many of the joys and challenges of that transition into higher education. One major change that I resisted for quite a long time is the topic of this short blog.

Do you remember your first word processor? I had been using Corel WordPerfect as my word processor of choice for over a decade ever since joining the cyber generation in the Nineties. As far as I could tell, I was the only professor at MMC who wasn't using Microsoft Word. That posed lots of communication issues. As much as I might have hoped, the others weren't going to make any change to help the new guy. Believe me I tried to persuade them. It was my opinion that WordPerfect was much more user friendly. Being the new kid on the block with no seniority, I convinced no one. After a few years of muddling through, I finally made the transition to Word. It wasn't easy or fun. But this aging dog learned all those new tricks.

I am still using Microsoft Word. WordPerfect seems like an old friend I haven't seen for 15 years. I still spend lots of quality time in God's Perfect Word. If Corel WordPerfect were thrust upon me today, I wouldn't have a clue where to begin that new relationship.

Better Late Than Never

Better late than never! That's how I feel about finally beginning my new blog of the book (more like a novella) I've been working on since 2006. That's right, I started that effort 14 years ago. It's still a work in progress. I'm not at all sure it will ever come to a conclusion. To be a real book/novel it would probably need to triple in length, and I don't think I have that much life left in me. It took me so long to get this far. At that same rate of writing pages, I would be 99 at completion.

At least I finally landed on a doable method for self-publication. Imagine! is a fantasy novella in serial blog format about heaven, Jesus, and "in the beginning." Over those 14 years my nose to the grindstone toiling has been sporadic at best. Keying the thoughts and words has been an on and off process with more off than on most weeks. Remember I was working full time and traveling a lot. I had to visit our 11 grandchildren regularly who live in four different states none of which is Tennessee. All of that takes time. Now that I'm retired, I'm back at it with a vengeance! It's taken me nearly three more years of leisure to actually transform this dream into a reality without adding a single page to the manuscript. Oh, well!

That doesn't surprise me much. I was generally one to need a deadline to approach before getting out my grindstone. Except when my heart was really in a project, I would procrastinate until the zero hour was imminent. Two times in my life my actions varied from that wait until it's almost too late scenario with remarkable results.

The first was in my college British History class. When assigned Prime Minister Clement Atlee as my research paper topic, I jumped all over it. Except for some eating and sleeping, I spent the next 36 hours totally absorbed in that assignment mostly in the college library. I guess I wanted to prove something to myself and to my favorite professor Dr. Ray Muncy. I was not a history major, but I could research and write. My diligence paid off with a grade of "A" on the paper. Additionally I won the history research award at semester's end much to the chagrin of all my history-major friends.

The other memory I have of dusting off the grindstone was in planning my Arctic Ocean Road Trip in 2011. With my copy of the Milepost, other maps, and tour guides opened around me, I detailed the 12,000 mile 28-day journey as though my life depended on it. That May/June I had an amazing, once in a lifetime, solo road trip from Columbia, TN, to Deadhorse, AK, on the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay. A main trivia fact I learned first hand. It takes five days to enter Alaska from Tennessee if you average driving 1,100 miles a day. Call me Crazy!

Those two life-changing times aside, my track record is that I work better when a meaningful deadline looms on the immediate horizon. But as with yesterday's start of my serial blog Imagine!, better late than never. Much better!

The Pitt Theater

Pitt Theater circa 1949

It was the Fifties, the Age of Sputnik and the rising Cold War. The Pitt movie theater was on Elysian Fields Avenue at the corner of Robert E. Lee Boulevard in New Orleans. Built in 1949 by T.A. Pittman, the building seated 1,100 patrons. It wasn't far from where I grew up. Its proximity was probably the reason my brother and I were dropped off there many Saturday afternoons while our mother went shopping.

As I remember it, admission to the kiddie matinee was 50 cents. For another four bits we could add pop corn, coke, and a couple of candy choices. My favorites were candy-coated almonds, Necos, Snow Caps,and Bit-O'-Honey (it lasted a long, long time). We really got our money's worth at the Pitt; and the value didn't stop at the concession stand.

Once we were comfy in our theater seats, the show would start. There was always a newsreel, at least one cartoon (Road Runner and Wylie Coyote was my  favorite - talk about resilience! That coyote had it.), previews of coming attractions, and then right before the movie was my favorite part. It was the reason kids kept coming back for the Saturday afternoon kiddie matinee at the Pitt...the serial. Some sort of saga in bits and pieces with a new add-on every week. I remember Penelope getting rescued numerous times from the railroad track in the nick of time by the smiling hero on the white horse. I believe his name was Dudley Do Right.

I have a lot of time on my hands these days. First it was just retirement; today add the social distancing and quarantine that have arrived with the viral pandemic. I also have a book that is only partially finished. It was to be one of my retirement projects...for the last three years. I just couldn't decide what to do with it. Then I had these memories of the serials at the Pitt Theater all those decades ago. Since I'm back to blogging regularly in 2020, why not self-publish my novella as a serial blog? Perhaps my dozen or so followers would enjoy that.

Bit-O'-Honey

Before someone comments on this being a bad April Fool's joke, let me state that I know I'm a procrastinator and don't follow through well on resolutions. This year I have been fairly good at eating right, exercising regularly, and blogging. There is hope that I could accomplish the somewhat formidable task of a serial blog. I have worked on this book idea off and on for well over a decade...more off than on. That is about to change. I simply need to reach out to a very smart friend, husband of an avid blogger, and get a platform set up. Then I just need to start copying, pasting, and editing.

So thanks Pitt Theater for the memories and the inspiration. I didn't even have to go into my Idea File for this blog. All I need now is a  Bit-O'-Honey to keep me going. Hope somebody still makes those.